


apricitas

by atlasky



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Jason Todd is Robin, it's gen but there are a few curse words involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 07:16:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11754783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlasky/pseuds/atlasky
Summary: “Why are you here?” Hal asks, feeling the beginning of a headache pounding in his skull.The kid stops chewing on Hal’s potato chips and looks at him as if he’s stupid for asking that. “Because Batman hates you the most, duh.”





	apricitas

**Author's Note:**

> Don't try to figure out the timeline, because it absolutely doesn't make sense, but it's loosely based from Green Lantern V4. Happy Jason Todd birthday week! The theme for this one is friendship, and I've always wanted to see how these two will play out, so here you go. Enjoy!

 

When he wakes up, Hal trips over the cord of his charging phone and stubs his toe on one of the legs of his bedside table, because that’s the kind of morning he’s having.

“Fuck!” He curses, eyes watering as he plops back down on the bed and waits for the ache to subside. He’s been off world for the better part of the month, so today he has to catch up with some flight time at Ferris Air. Carol’s voicemail was _very_ clear about that. Hal has no time for a stubbed toe.

He eyes the scattered clothes on the floor. He hopes he still has something decent to wear, otherwise he would need to do some laundry before he leaves for the day instead of after. His bedroom is dimly lit with his curtains drawn closed and light switched off. Hal scrunches his nose and scratches his left shoulder absentmindedly. He can hear his television playing some random cartoon show in the living room and -

_Wait._

He never leaves his TV on before he goes to bed.

Hal reaches for his ring and stands up slowly, mind churning with possibilities. Barry told him that he’s busy because of a new case, Carol and Tom would already be working at this time in the morning, and his brother doesn’t know that Hal is back on Earth yet, so there goes the list of people who has a spare key to his apartment. Hal makes his way to the door, grabbing a broom and holding it up on his way. Ring for Green Lantern threats, and broom for poor bastards that broke into the wrong place.

“Alright pal,” he says, slamming his bedroom door open. “You better make - “

He stops, and gapes when he spots a bundle of red, green, and yellow on his couch. He lowers the broom.

“Hi Hal,” Robin greets cheerfully, waving at him. He’s eating a bag of potato chips that’s supposed to be Hal’s breakfast. “You don’t have any food in your kitchen.”

-

Hal had a solid plan for his first day back on Earth, and it consists of doing laundry, being yelled at by Carol because he takes too many risks on one of their new test planes, having a beer with Tom after a quick grocery run, and sleeping in at 9 PM and not a second later.

This is not in his solid, well thought out plan.

“Why are you here?” Hal asks, feeling the beginning of a headache pounding in his skull.

The kid stops chewing on _Hal’s_ potato chips and looks at him as if he’s stupid for asking that. “Because Batman hates you the most, duh.”

“I know _that_ , but it doesn’t explain why you’re here _now_.”

 _Jason_. The name of the new Robin is Jason. Hal remembers because the first time the kid had introduced himself, not too long after he started hitting the streets with Batman, he insisted on Hal giving him a fist bump and said that he admired Hal for being able to get on Batman’s nerves.

Not that it's hard.

He takes in the kid once again and gestures in disbelief. “Did you come here like that? In full costume?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Jason tells him. On the TV, Tom chases Jerry under a bridge. “I changed in your bathroom earlier.”

Oh, because that makes a random kid sneaking into his apartment way better.

“Did anyone see you? How did you get in here?”

Jason is wearing a mask, but Hal feels the deadpan stare either way. “Right, okay,” Hal says, waving his own question off. “Stupid questions. Does Bruce even know you’re here?”

Jason scowls and turns back to the TV, munching on the potato chips. “He’s out on a business trip.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you’re here.” Hal rubs his forehead. “What about - uh,” he has only been to the Manor twice but he knows that Bruce has a butler who’s listed as Batman’s emergency contact to the league members who knows his real identity. “Mr. Pennyworth. What about him?”

“It’s his day off,” Jason says easily. “Nightwing is supposed to watch me but he was still asleep when I left.”

“How did you get here anyway?”

“I took the train,” Jason replies, sinking back into the couch and swinging his legs back and forth.

“You took the train,” Hal repeats. Gotham isn’t that far from Coast City but surely a twelve years old kid - who looks younger - travelling on his own at the crack of dawn must have drawn some attention. “You’re like, twelve.”

The scowl returns. “I’m thirteen next month.”

The assumption about his age seems to have offended the kid and he refuses to answer any more of Hal’s questions. Hal sighs, tells Jason to stay put, which the kid seems to happily do, and turns back into his room. He grabs his secure phone from his bedside drawer, the one that Batman himself insisted every league members have, and dials Nightwing’s contact.

“Dick,” he says, as soon as Dick picks up. “I have some - “

“Not now Hal,” Dick replies, sounding panicked. “God, Bruce is going to kill me - “

“Yeah, about that - “

“I’ll have to call you back later.”

The line goes dead with the phone still pressed to Hal’s ear.

This is not happening to him, not now.

Hal dials Nightwing’s number again but this time the vigilante doesn’t even pick up. He switches to call Bruce’s number, but the man sends Hal’s call to his voicemail.

Damn it.

“Listen up, jerkface,” Hal says. “If you ever find it in your cold dead heart to get over the prank call incident from three months ago - which was Oliver’s idea, by the way - you’ll pick up this call and find out that your missing kid is sitting on my couch and eating my food. Call me back once you get over your huge ego.”

The line beeps, signaling that his message has been recorded, and Hal throws the phone back into the drawer in frustration. He looks up to see Robin - who is watching him with interest - standing in the doorway of Hal’s bedroom.

“You’re stuck with me,” Jason says, grinning and looking positively gleeful. He holds up the bag of chips. “You’re also out of potato chips, by the way.”

-

There’s no way that Carol would allow him to skip work today, no matter the excuse, so Hal gets Jason to change back to his civilian clothes while he drinks coffee for breakfast. The kid returns wearing jeans, a red hoodie, and a black baseball cap with the Gotham Knights’ logo on it.

“I still don't see why I can't stay here,” Jason complains, dragging his feet to the kitchen. “Why do I have to go with you to your workplace?”

Hal places his empty cup in the sink and runs the tap water on it for a bit, letting the cup be filled with water. He’ll wash it later tonight. “Because Batman will kill me if I leave his son alone in my apartment. Besides, there’s nothing to do here.”

“I brought my books,” the kid says, pointing at the backpack on the sofa. The brown bag bulges with what Hal suspected were weapons but now knows are books. “And I can order pizza just fine.”

“Uhuh, nope,” Hal says, putting his leather jacket on. He grabs his car keys and gestures at Jason to follow him. “Come on, let’s go - I don’t want my boss to kill me today.”

Jason sighs, then he saunters back to the couch to haul the bag that is twice his size on his shoulders before he hurries to where Hal stands.

Hal stares. It’s a wonder the kid hasn’t toppled because of the weight. “Let me carry your - “

Jason takes a step back and raises his chin. “I can carry it on my own.”

Of course. Bats and their stupid independent streak. Hal gives up and locks his apartment door behind them.

-

With a lot of persuasion and promises that he can return to the car any time to grab his books, Jason finally agrees to leave his bag in the backseat of Hal’s car with a backward glance.

He perks up when Hal brings him to walk through the hangar, stopping once or twice to watch the planes being fixed and engines being tested until Hal has to call his name to get Jason to keep up with him. Hal grimaces at Tom who nods at Jason’s direction. _It’s a long story_ , Hal mouths. Tom shrugs and disappears back underneath the plane he’s fixing.

“You work here?” Jason asks, staring at Hal from beneath the baseball cap.

“I mean, yeah, I have to make my living somehow,” Hal replies, shrugging off his jacket and grabbing his flight suit from his locker. “What did you think I do?”

“I may have made certain assumptions based on what Bruce said about you,” Jason says, as he peers into one of the abandoned green lockers before he jumps onto the empty bench in the middle of the room.

“ _You may have made_ \- nevermind, I don’t want to know.”

Hal continues to do his pre-flight preparation while Jason lies down on the bench and chatters about the planes that Bruce took him on, until suddenly Carol walks into the locker room and takes one look at Jason.

“Hal.” Carol says, voice sickeningly sweet, which means she’s one second away from exploding. “He’s not one of your nephews.”

Hal winces, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, he’s - “

“Cool!” Jason exclaims, hurrying over to stand in front of Carol. “You’re Star Sapphire! I’ve always wanted to meet you.”

Carol’s eyes widen. “Uh, nice to meet you too. How did you - “

Jason’s grin can only be described as proud. “I’m Robin.”

Carol pauses and gives Hal a deadpan stare. “Doesn’t Batman hate you? I don’t think kidnapping his protegee would help that case.”

Hal throws his hands up. “Why do you assume that? I don’t have a death wish and Batman is overrated anyway.”

“I came here on my own,” Jason explains, as if that makes everything better. “Batman doesn’t know I’m here. Not until a couple more hours, anyway. I ditched his trackers because he can only use visible ones after Nightwing threw a fit about privacy.”

“You’re here on your own,” Carol says, incredulous, apparently choosing to ignore all the bits about the _trackers,_ which Hal thinks is a good choice. “From Gotham. How old are you? You can’t be any older than twelve.”

“Thirteen next month,” Hal helpfully adds.

He shuts up when Carol glares at him. After years of knowing each other and navigating through an on and off relationship, Hal has gotten better at knowing when to stop talking.

“Can you keep him company while I’m on the air?”

 _Better_ , he thinks. _Not good_.

Carol lets out an annoyed breath. “I do have an actual business to run,” she replies, but that’s not a no. She hands out a manila folder to Hal. “We have a couple of planes for you to test today. New machines, but that’s what makes them risky.”

Hal skims through the papers and reads up the specifications. “Piece of cake,” he tells her.

“Please don’t crash and burn any of them,” she says.

-

Hal doesn’t end up crashing or burning any planes that day.

The planes need a tune up, but there’s no major problem, and Hal logs his flight hours for the day to find Jason on Carol’s couch, reading a book with headphones in his ears. Empty boxes of takeout food are scattered on the coffee table. She says goodbye and hangs up her call when she sees him.

“So that was your brother,” she says, sweeping a stray lock of dark hair out of her eyes. “Wondering why you’re not back on Earth yet. What was he talking about? I asked, because apparently you neglected to call him again.”

Hal clears his throat, caught off guard. “I haven’t had the chance to call Jim. I swear.”

She watches him. “I thought things are getting better.”

He shifts the front of his jacket. “They are, I promise.”

From the corner of his eyes, Hal catches Jason’s gaze flicking from Hal to Carol and then back to his book.

Admittedly, his relationship with his brother has only started getting better not too long ago, only after Hal told Jim about his Green Lantern identity, but Hal’s trying - even when some days it’s harder than others.

“Remember what I told you?” She asks, leaning forward in her chair.

“Yeah,” he says. “I don’t need to pretend around you. I know. I just arrived on Earth late last night and crashed, that’s all. I woke up to find Robin on my couch and well, you know the rest.”

Carol looks at him. “Okay Highball,” she says finally. “I believe you.” She points at him and squints her eyes. “But if I ever find out that you’re flying my planes without having a proper breakfast again, you’ll be out of a job faster than you can say sorry.”

“Ouch,” Hal says, and he can’t help but smile, warmth spreading in his chest. “Understood, Sapphire.”

-

Jason hasn’t lifted his nose out of his book ever since they left Ferris Air, feet propped up on Hal’s dashboard. Hal checks his phone to find a message from Barry, but none from Batman or Nightwing. He decides to stick to his schedule and go on a grocery run, since the only food back at his apartment is just leftover crumbs in an empty cabinet.

He doesn’t expect Jason to break the silence, considering how seemingly immersed he is in reading, but the kid lowers the book and gives Hal a thoughtful look.

“What’s going on between you and your brother?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing’s going on.”

“You look stupid when you play dumb.”

“No. Shut up, it's complicated.”

Jason scoffs, unimpressed. “Bruce’s friendship with Clark is complicated. Anything else is background noise. If you told your brother that you would call, you should call.”

Hal finds he can't quite argue with that logic.

Jason stretches his legs a little bit more on the dashboard. The traffic light turns green and Hal takes a left turn. “You know,” Jason starts. “Bruce wouldn’t have let me put my feet up on the dashboard.”

“Well,” Hal says, “his car probably is more expensive than both of my kidneys.”

“That much is obvious,” Jason says, and Hal rolls his eyes. No matter how the kid avoids to answer any questions that he and Carol have asked about Batman and the reason why he’s here, he always unconsciously drives the conversation towards Bruce, much like when he talked about the planes he had been on but ended up just talking about Bruce yet again.

Hal really can’t see what kids see in the jackass. Dick was also a great kid who grew up to an all around good guy, and yet Dick was raised by an emotionally constipated man who Hal thinks is as boring as Sinetro’s lectures back when no one knew he was a crazy space dictator.

“While we’re on that topic - you still owe me an explanation to why you’re here,” Hal tries, tapping his index finger on the steering wheel. He briefly ponders about going to Walmart but settles on a small supermarket not far from his place instead.

Jason sighs, like it burdens him so. “I told you. Bruce hates you the most, so this will be the last place they’ll think about when they look for me.”

“But what happened? Did he reveal to you that he’s secretly a vampire? I need to add that to my scrapbook of proof why Batman is a vampire so I can finally sell it to the highest bidder.”

The kid scrunches his nose in distaste. “He was being stupid.”

“That really doesn’t narrow it down.”

Jason doesn’t elaborate anymore, losing interest in the conversation and burying his face back in his book - _The Adventures of Tom Sawyer_ , now that Hal sees it clearer - and Hal takes that as a clue that the conversation is over. He pulls up in the parking lot of the supermarket, relieved to see that it’s not crowded with people, and parks near the front door.

“You should call your brother,” Jason says again, when Hal turns off the car engine.

“Yeah, well,” Hal replies. “I should do a lot of things.”

-

The key to his shopping routine is to buy non perishable goods that wouldn’t expire if he has a sudden one month long mission off Earth. And truth be told, he doesn't cook often anyway, preferring to order cheap and quick food or eat out rather than spend a lot of time in the kitchen. He just thinks the time should be used for something else. Priorities, you know?

Jason doesn’t deem this acceptable, eyeing with disgust the packs of instant noodle, a couple boxes of frozen meal, and some canned food that Hal threw on his shopping cart. “I’ve seen your kitchen,” he complains. “You literally have nothing else. You can’t only be buying _these_?”

“You’re right,” Hal says, moving to the next aisle over with Jason following him. “I need to restock my chips.”

Jason's face twists with disgust even more. “You’re as bad as Dick.”

Small and quick hands swat his and replace Hal’s grip at the shopping cart.

“Jason!”

Jason pushes the cart forward, towards the vegetable and fruit section. Hal trails after the kid, exasperated. It figures that Jason would be pushy; pushiness seems to be a trait that runs in the Bats. Maybe that’s the key on surviving being around Bruce for so many hours in a day.

“I don’t usually cook anyway so what’s the point?”

They stop in front of a stack of tomatoes and Jason stands on his tiptoes to reach a particularly red tomato. He scrunches his nose and prods at its skin. Hal grudgingly grabs a plastic bag and offers it to Jason, who drops the tomato into it.

“Alfred said,” Jason starts, then falters for the first time since Hal met him, but quickly tries to cover it by grabbing another tomato, as if he was thinking. Hal debates for a second - if he should ask when the kid obviously didn’t mean to slip up, or let it be.

He’s not very good at letting things go. “What did Alfred say?”

Jason clears his throat and carefully lowers another tomato into the plastic bag that Hal is holding. “I’ve been taking cooking lessons with Alfred. It’s - new.” Then he glances up and gives Hal a steely glare, the unsureness vanishing into thin air as sudden as it appeared. “It’s also kinda a surprise. Don’t tell Bruce.”

“Whoa, okay, that’s good to hear. I thought you Bats just sit in the cave all day and brood.” Hal jokes, and Jason’s lips curve into a crooked grin, tension leaving his shoulders.

“Alfred said you could substitute any meals with sandwiches, and they could be an easy meal to fall back to. You just need to know how to make a variety of it with the same ingredients, I guess.” Jason’s voice grows more confident as he speaks, and he pushes Hal’s hand away. Hal takes it as a sign to place the plastic bag of chosen tomatoes into the cart. “Since you’re lazy like Dick, you should settle on low maintenance meals that are also healthy.”

Hal snorts in amusement, folding his arms in front of his chest. “Alright then, little chef. What do you think my _lazy_ self should get?”

-

Jason blabbers about what Alfred taught him about cooking, darting through the small supermarket, his sleek black sneakers tapping on the red and white tiles. The kid insists Hal buys some lettuce and meat that are yet processed into pizza or frozen lasagna, and when Hal tries to reason that he probably won’t get to cook those, Jason frowns up at him in a way that reminds Hal of his nephews when Hal missed their joint birthday party because of a League mission last year, and of Jim when they were little and he would watch Hal sneak out to see the planes against their mom’s wishes, and Hal finds himself putting two brown bags of groceries on the backseat of his car, twice the amount of food than what he planned to get before.

Jason slams the door of Hal’s car shut and starts to fumble with the radio, snickering when one of the announcer makes a particularly bad joke. Given how Bruce has zero sense of humor, Hal wonders where the Robins got theirs.

The drive to Hal’s apartment is short, and Jason hauls his bag of books on his back and waits by the elevator in the basement as Hal picks up his groceries and locks his car. Jason presses the elevator button to Hal’s floor and bounces lightly on his toes.

When they arrive inside of Hal’s supposedly locked apartment to find Bruce Wayne sitting at Hal’s kitchen stool, in the darkening room as the sun starts to set outside, Hal can’t say that anyone is surprised.

“Turn on the freaking light,” Hal says, flicking the light switch on with his elbow as he puts his groceries on the kitchen counter. “God, you’re such a weirdo.”

The white neon light fills the room. Bruce is sitting on the stool with his back straight, in a suit because of course, the man only has two default settings: the bat costume or a suit. He seems to have discarded his tie and the front of his vest is rumpled. His right arm is in a cast, slung in front of his chest with a white fabric. There’s a plastic bag that doesn’t belong to Hal on the counter in front of Bruce. He is staring at Jason, who hasn’t moved from near the door, looking back at Bruce.

“What happened to your arm?” Hal asks. Unsurprisingly, Bruce ignores him. Bruce is still staring at Jason, gaze sweeping from the tip of the kid’s hair to his toes. Jason widens his stance, planting his feet more firmly on the ground and scowling up at Bruce.

“Jason Peter Todd,” Bruce says flatly. “Do you know how much trouble you’re in?”

Jason says nothing. If Hal doesn’t know any better -

The boy is sulking.

“Lay off the kid,” Hal says. “He’s had a difficult day.”

“Now.” Bruce glances at Hal for the first time but is still addressing Jason. “Would you tell me what prompted you to slip away from Dick and go _here_ of all places?”

“Hey!” Hal protests. He did not put up with whatever this is for the whole day for _that_.

“You know damn well why,” Jason mutters.

Bruce’s eyebrows crease - the most emotion Hal has seen from him, probably. Bruce grabs the plastic bag from the counter, stands, and approaches Jason, whose shoulders curve in slightly. “Here.” Bruce offers Jason the plastic bag. “I got this on my trip.”

The kid doesn’t move to take the bag, turning his head away.

“Jay, please.”

With exaggerated slowness, Jason reaches out and accepts it. He peers inside and doesn’t quite manage the flash of giddiness that appears on his face. If Hal saw it, he knows Bruce must have seen it too. “Is this?”

“First edition, yes,” Bruce confirms, watching as Jason discards the plastic bag to take the book out of it. “For your collection.”

“I will not be bought off,” Jason says, even as he cracks the book open and starts to flip through the pages carefully. He pauses and glances at Bruce. “But I will consider this as a peace offering.”

Hal doesn’t understand how Bruce’s face can remain solemn as the man kneels down and puts his free hand on Jason’s shoulder. “That’s all I ask, Jay. I’m sorry I missed your school play. You’ve worked so hard on it. I wouldn’t have gone on this trip if - ”

Jason sniffs. “If Lucius hadn't gotten sick at the last minute. I know. But the school play is not the point.”

Bruce raises an eyebrow. “It’s not?”

“You have a concussion and a broken arm too. Leslie told you to rest and you could have sent someone else, but you chose to be a stubborn fucker instead.”

Hal snickers. Bruce turns to shoot a glare at him, but Hal doesn’t care. He lifts a challenging brow back. Watching Batman being called a stubborn fucker right to his face by a mini human has made the whole day worth it.

“Watch your language. I’m sorry I worried you, but I promise that I’m fine, Jay.” Bruce ruffles Jason’s hair and the kid gives an indignant yelp. “Dick told me he recorded your whole performance, even your teacher’s monologue.”

Jason perks up. “There’s a line Ms. Patrick said that I want you to hear!”

“I’d love to see it, Jay.” Bruce rises up to his feet. “Dick is waiting in the lobby and I want you to apologize to him. Don’t forget, we’ll still be having a long talk when we get home.”

“Yeah yeah,” Jason brushes him off, returning the book into the plastic bag and turning towards the door, opens it, and leaves without a glance back. “Bye Hal!”

The door slams behind him and the frame next to the door shakes before it stills, slightly crooked. Hal studies Bruce. “How long did it take for you to find him?”

“Quick enough.”

Hal smirks. “You could have found him way sooner if you had checked my message.”

“Fine. Point taken.” Bruce glowers at him. “I’ll take your name off the do-not-pick-up list.”

Hal points at Bruce’s face. “See? That expression right there? Doesn’t work on me anymore after I learned from Jason that you tripped on your cape and fell into the Gotham River.”

“I was under the influence of a toxin.” Bruce pinches the bridge of his nose before he turns to leave. “I don’t know why I bother with you. Make sure to check in with the others that you’re back for active duty.”

Hal gives him a mock salute and watches as Bruce disappear through his apartment door and into the hallway. The door closes with a thud and the apartment is silent once more. Hal starts to put away his groceries: vegetables, meat, and frozen food in the fridge, while the rest goes into the cupboard above of his stove. He sits on the couch and sends a text to his brother. _Hey, I’m back. Can I visit the family this weekend?_

The phone vibrates with Jim’s reply.

Bruce Wayne may be a pain in the ass, but his kids are alright.

-

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think? :) Thanks for reading!


End file.
